Celebrating Wildflowers News 2016
December 2016
New Website: Western Center for Native Plant Conservation and Restoration Science
Posted December 27, 2016
RMRS and PNW field crews training on data collection at bluebunch wheatgrass experimental plot at Central Ferry, WA (Photo by: Holly Prendeville, PNW Research Station).
The health of ecosystems across the West is increasingly impacted by many factors including climate change and drought. This is challenging land managers with a pressing need for more science-based, integrated restoration methods. To meet that challenge, scientists from the three western U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service’s research stations – Pacific Northwest (PNW), Pacific Southwest (PSW), and Rocky Mountain (RMRS) Research Stations – chartered a collaborative group called the Western Center for Native Plant Conservation and Restoration Science (WCNP).
June 2016
Pollinator-Friendly Best Management Practices for Federal Lands
Posted June 16, 2016
On June 20, 2014, the White House released a “Presidential Memorandum—Creating a Federal Strategy To Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators” (PDF, 52 KB).
With this direction, U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Interior, issue this timely and critically needed document, Pollinator-Friendly Best Management Practices For Federal Lands, May 11, 2015 (PDF, 5.1 MBs).
This document will guide federal land managers to effectively and efficiently use available resources and engage public and private partnerships in taking action for the conservation and management of pollinators and pollinator habitat on federal lands.
National Pollinator Week
Notice the pollen carried by this bee. Digger bee (Andrenid). Photo by Beatriz Moisset.
Posted June 8, 2016
June 20-26, 2016 has been designated National Pollinator Week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of the Interior.
National Pollinator Week is a time to celebrate pollinators and spread the word about what you can do to protect them.
Read more about National Pollinator Week on the Pollinator Partnership website…
Check out Pollinators on Celebrating Wildflowers…
February 2016
Conservation Status and Ecology of the Monarch Butterfly in the United States
Posted February 9, 2016
Prepared by NatureServe and The Xerxes Society for Invertebrate Conservation for the Forest Service, the report, Conservation Status and Ecology of the Monarch Butterfly in the United States (PDF, 10.2 MB), summarizes the monarch butterfly’s North American distribution, life history, population, current conservation status, and potential causes of decline. In addition, there is a set of breeding and overwintering habitat management recommendations. This report aims to inform government agencies charged with biodiversity protection, as well as conservation organizations and the public in general about the threats to and current conservation status of this much-loved, iconic insect.